Slot-iron for street-railway conduits



( No Model.) 7

W. H. HOLDEN. SLOT IRON FOR STREET RAILWAY GONDUITS- Patented Feb. 11,1896.

. tween its ends to condense the view.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVILLIAM H. HOLDEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SLOT-IRON FOR STREET-RAILWAY CONDUITS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 554,445, dated February11, 1896.

Application filed July 27, 1895. Serial No. 557,335. (No model.)

. a slot in a conduit for electric or cable railway, adapted to normallykeep the slot closed, and to be opened, one section at a time, for thegripper, in the case of a cable railway, or the insulating-bar whichcarries the electric wires, in the case of an electric railway.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a detail section of a portion of trackhaving such a conduit, the yoke-irons thereof being partly shown andprovided with my improvement and the gripper being shown in positionbetween the lips of the slot holding a section of the same open. Fig. 2is a similar view of the upper ends of the yoke and the lip-ironspivoted thereto, the latter being shown in closed position as when thegripper is not passing them. Fig. 3 is a detail plan of a piece of trackhaving my improved slot-irons. Fig. 4 is alongitudinal detail section ofthe conduit, taken through the center of the slot and showing in sideelevation the gripping mechanism of a cable car, the conduit and thegrip being provided with my improvements. Fig. 5 is a detail and sideelevation of the pilot-shoe or prow by which the slot is opened sectionby section. Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are vertical sections at the lines 6, 7and 8, respectively, on

Fig. 5, showinga taper of the pilot-shoe. Fig.

9 is a detail elevation of the upper end of the yoke and the clipmounted thereon for the purpose of pivoting the slot-irons and the tieand guard bars which connect the yokes at their upper ends. Fig. 10 isadetail side elevation of one of the slot-irons broken out be- Fig. 11 isa horizontal section at 11 11 on Fig. 1 or Fig. 4.

A represents one of the yoke-irons of the conduit. It terminates at theupper ends in an angular seat A.

B is a cast fitting having a horizontal and a vertical web and atransverse web B, from which studs B B project, one in each direction.This fitting isadaptedto be seated in the angular seat A of theyoke-iron Oonsecutive yokes are tied together by the angleiron O, thevertical web of which may intervene between the vertical web of thefitting B and the vertical Web of the seat A of the yoke-iron, so thatthe tie may be secured by the same bolts a which secure the fitting tothe yoke through the vertical webs. Additional bolts a may be used tosecure the fitting to the yoke through the horizontal webs of thefitting and yoke respectively.

D D are the slot iron or irons which form the lips of the slot. Theslot-iron has the horizontal or approximately horizontal web D,constituting the lip proper of the slot, and bracket-like ends or lugs Dprojecting from the under side of the web D near the ends and serving asthe means of mounting the slot irons on the yoke-irons of the conduit,for the said bracket-lugs have pivot-apertures d to adapt them to bemounted on the studs 13 of the fitting B. The brackets D at the heel orouter edge are shaped in the arc of a circle about the center of theaperture (1 and are provided with a shoulder D at the lower side whichis adapted to stop against the edge of the horizontal web of the fittingB, which may be turned upward for that purpose, as shown at B Thehorizontal web of the angle-iron 0 laps onto the horizontal web of theslotirons at the rear edge I), as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. The width ofthe horizontal web of the slot-irons is such that when they are mountedupon the opposite ends of the yoke-irons, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2,their inner edges will meet and stop against each other at the same timethat the shoulders D stop against the upturned lips of the horizontalwebs of the fittings B, respectively. The lower edges of the bracketends D of the slot-irons are oblique to the web D, said bracket endsbeing tapered down from the heel or rear edge toward the forward edge,the most desirable form being probably slightly curved, as shown in thedrawings, and it is preferable also that at the extreme inner ends thebrackets should have a short straight portion (Z whereat they may seatagainst each Other when closed together.

To co-operate with the slot-irons pivoted to the yokes and adapted tostop against each other and close the slot and having sloping loweredges at their ends, as illustrated, I provide the grip-bar withpilot-shoes or prows adapted to enter under and between the slopingedges of the bracket ends of the slot-irons and separate the latter toopen the slot as the car advances.

F is the grip-bar of a common form of grip device for cable cars.

F F are two parts of the gripper extending downwardly from the grip-barand operated by the lever mechanism extending upwardly therefrom, andwhich need not be described, as it constitutes no part of the presentinven tion. To this grip-bar I secure pilot-shoes or prows G G, one ateach side of the gripper, so that one precedes and one follows thegripper in the direction of travel of the car. The pilots G G arepreferably connected to the grip-bar so as to have a slight range ofpivotal movement about the axis of the vertical stem G of thepilot-shoe. This is conveniently obtained by extending the stem G upinto a pivot-bearing provided in a boss f on the grip-bar and securingthe shoe in position by means of a pin 5 inserted through the boss andstem, the holes f in the boss through which it is inserted beingslightly elongated horizontally, as shown in Fig. 4c, and the pin beingmade fast in the stem of the pilot-shoe.

The shape of the pilot-shoe is shown in Figs. 5, G, 7 and S, thesuccessive sections 6, 7 and 8 serving to indicate substantially thetaper of the shoe, which widens from the toe to the heel, and at thesame time slopes upward on top, the lower edge being horizontal. In theheel portion of the pilot-that is, the portion at the larger end andafter the full width is reachedI prefer to journal verticalantifriction-rollers G G which project slightly at the opposite sidesrespectively of the shoe, so that they take the friction of theslot-irons after the slot is fully opened by the entrance of the shoebetween such irons.

In order to use as large rollers as possible they are set not directlyopposite each other but one a little in advance of the other, as seen inthe drawings.

The operation of these devices applied to an ordinary grip-car in themanner shown may be understood to be that as the ear advances theforemost pilot-shoe poking its nose under and between theconverginglower edges of the bracket ends of the slot-irons engages themon its sloping surface and tilts them up and apart, entering betweenthem, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the gripper is free from contact withthe edges of the slot-irons, which rest upon the antifriction-rollers Gas the car advances. The length of each slotiron being at least greaterthan the distance from stem to stem of the front and rear pilotshoes,the rear shoe will have entered the slot between each pair of slot-ironsbefore the forward shoe has got beyond the forward ends rear.

of the same pair. The slots are thus kept from collapsing against thegripper, and are also caused to close together with the same gradualmovement with which they were separated, thus preventing the noise whichwould otherwise be caused by their sudden collapse. The advantage ofallowing slight pivotal movement to the pilot-shoes is chiefly to enablethem to assume positions slightly out of line in passing around curvesin the track, wherein consecutive sections of slot-irons would be at aslight angle to each other, one shoe being between one pair of ironswhile the other shoe is between the next pair in the This expedient alsogives flexibility to the device and permits easy adaptation to slightirregularities in the tracks.

I do not limit myself to the particular mode of hinging the slot-ironsto the fixed structure of the track, and any mechanic will readi ydevise variations in this respect; but in all such variations theessential points to be kept in mind and provided for are, besideseconomy in construction, protection against danger of throwing the ironsout'by the impact of the shoe against them when cars are moving veryrapidly, protection against the danger of the irons falling too farinward when they for any cause fail to meet properly at the center, andprovision for enabling each slot-iron, independently of its mate, to sustain a weight which may be put upon it by loaded teams passing overit-or running upon it when for any reason it is not braced properly byits mate.

It is also necessary to so construct the hinge connection that itsaction shall not be liable to be interfered with by sand and gravel fromthe road-bed, nor by ice and snow, and to this end it is desirable toavoid in such hinge connection shoulders which advance toward each otheras the slot opens and which might in the opening movement pinch betweenthem sand or gravel or ice, which would prevent the proper opening ofthe slot or impose too great strain upon the shoe in forcing suchopening. These points, it will be observed, are provided for in thestructure herein shown, and said structure is to be taken therefore as aspecimen, from which, however, many departures in the details might bepermitted without departing from the essence of my invention.

For the sake of convenience and elea-rness -in the phraseology of myclaims I use the I claim- 1. In a cable or electric railway fixed supports on opposite sides of the conduit, slotirons hinged upon suchsupports adapted to tilt thereon to open and close the slot, havingtheir ends cut away at the lower inner corner to render them oblique tothe vertical plane at which the irons meet to close the slot, incombination with a pilot-shoe carried by the car, adapted to protrudewithin the conduit and located in advance of the power-arm, such shoehaving its upper surface sloped rearwardly upward and being at its upperpart wider than the thickness of the powerarm, whereby it is adapted toenter under and between the sloping edges of the slot-irons to tilt themapart as the car advances, and hold them separated while the power-armenters between them, substantially as set forth.

2. In a cable or electric railway fixed supports on opposite sides ofthe conduit, slotirons hinged and adapted to tilt on such supports toopen the slot, in combination with a pilot-shoe carried by the carprotruding into the conduit and located in advance of the power-arm,such shoe being tapered, widening horizontally from the front endrearward, and sloping upward from front toward the near, whereby it isadapted to engage under the slot-irons at their proximate edges and tiltthem upward apart as the car advances, substantially as set forth.

3. In a cable or electric railway fixed supports on opposite sides ofthe conduit and the slot-irons hinged upon such supports and adapted totilt thereon to open and close the.

slot, such slot-irons having their ends toward the direction from whichthe car advances sloped downward and away from the vertical plane atwhich theirons come in contact when the slot is closed, in combinationwith a pilotshoe carried by the car protruding into the conduit andlocated in advance of the powerarm, such shoe being tapered wideninghorizontally from the front end rearward and sloping upward from fronttoward the rear, whereby it is adapted to engage under and between theslot-irons at their proximate edges and tilt them upward apart as thecar advances, substantially as set forth.

4. In combination with the yoke-irons the fitting B mounted rigidly onthe upper opposite ends of the yoke-irons, and having the pivot-lugs B,the slot-irons adapted to be pivoted 011 said lugs and to rock over suchpivots to meet at their inner edges and close the slot, and thelongitudinal tie-irons 0 adapted to be lodged between the yoke ends andthe fittings B and secured by the same bolts which fasten said fittingsto the yokes, substantially as set forth.

5. In combination with the yoke-irons the fittings B mounted upon theiropposite ends respectively, and the slot-irons pivoted to such fittingsand adapted to tilt over such pivots to meet and close the slot, and theangle-iron ties Cextending from yoke to yoke and having its horizontallip overhanging the heels or outer edges of the slot-irons respectively,substantially as set forth.

6. In combination with the yoke-irons having terminals B B, theslot-irons pivoted to such terminals and adapted to tilt over theirpivots to meet and close the slot and having their upper surfacesexposed to the travel, and their pivots below the level of the traveland of their upper line of contact with each other; stops on the saidterminals which arrest the slot-irons, respectively in their closingmovement at substantially the point at which their said upper edgesshould come into contact: substantially as set forth.

7. In a cable or electric railway in combination with the conduit-frameand the slotirons pivoted thereon and adapted to rock over their pivotsto open and close the slot, shoes carried by the car and protrudingwithin the conduit and located one in advance and the other in the rearof the power-arm, such shoes being adapted respectively to open theslotin advance of and permit it to close in the rear of the power-arm,and being provided with vertical stems whereat they are pivotallyconnected to their support and adapted to oscillate slightly about suchpivotal connection, whereby the two shoes may stand at a slight angle toeach other in passing around curves, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of twowitnesses, at Chicago, Illinois, this 24th day of July, 1895.

WILLIAM H. HOLDEN. Witnesses OHAs. S. BURTON, J EAN ELLIOTT.

